Thursday 1 September 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Half of Child Trust vouchers unused

Half of the near 2 million vouchers issued to parents to set up
special accounts for their children remain unused, according to
Revenue & Customs.

But despite this, the government says the Child Trust Fund is
making excellent progress.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 1 September 2005
page 4

Barbie link to anorexia

Playing with Barbie dolls could make girls as young as five
self-conscious of their weight, paving the way for eating disorders
in later life, say researchers.

A study of five and six-year-old girls found they became unhappy
with their weight after being shown pictures of the size-eight
doll.

Source:- The Daily Mail Thursday 1 September 2005 page
7

Blair ready to push his ‘respect’
agenda

Tony Blair will answer criticism that he has taken his eye off
the domestic political agenda by outlining plans to stamp out
antisocial behaviour.

After returning from his three-week summer break yesterday, the
Prime Minister turned his attention to law and order and his plans
to restore a culture of “respect.”

Source:- The Independent Thursday 1 September 2005 page
8

Woman and two children die after ‘jumping under
train’

A 27-year-old woman and her two children were killed yesterday
after apparently jumping in front of a Heathrow Express train
travelling at 100mph between Paddington and Heathrow airport.

The Asian women and her five-year-old daughter were killed
instantly at Southall station. Her baby son was taken to Ealing
hospital but died two hours later.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 1 September 2005 page
13

Divorce rate is still rising

A rise in the number of broken marriages in Scotland and
Northern Ireland helped to increase the national divorce figure
last year.

Although the number of divorces in England and Wales fell by 0.1
per cent to 153,490, in Scotland there was a 2.5 per cent increase
and in Northern Ireland the figure rose by 8.5 per cent.

Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page
22

Mother is arrested over arson death of her
baby

The mother of a four-month-old boy who died in a house fire in
Newcastle upon Tyne was arrested yesterday on suspicion of his
murder.

Danielle Wails, 21, told police how two masked raiders broke in
on Sunday night, knocked her unconscious and tied her hands with a
telephone cord.

Wails and her son had lived at the house for two weeks. It had
been leased by St Cuthbert’s Care, a Roman Catholic charity
that helps young single mothers with their parenting skills.

Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page
23

Ghettos blighting Asian integration

Asian communities in Britain are being increasingly ghettoised
in a trend that sets back hopes of assimilation by years, academic
Mike Poulsen, of Macquarie University in Sydney, has said.

Poulson said ministers needed to have policies tailored to
individual groups.

Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page
26

Call for school uniform grants

Children from poor families are at risk of being bullied or
punished at school because they cannot afford the right school
uniform, a coalition of charities says.

In a report published today, the charities call on the
government to introduce a statutory duty on local education
authorities to provide uniform grants for families on low
incomes.

Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page
33

Neglectful mother

A mother who left her three children with a schoolgirl
babysitter while she went on holiday for two weeks in Turkey was
given a six-month suspended prison sentence by Newton Aycliffe
magistrates’.

Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page
33

Saving lives with a second chance

As a Finchden Manor old boy, I know it offered a compassionate
answer to the problem of young offenders, comment by Tom
Robinson

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 1 September 2005 page
22

Farmer kicks up a stink over gypsies

Peter Langrish, a 79-year-old farmer, cleared 15 gipsy caravans
from his land at Horndean, Hants, by threatening to spray them with
his muck-spreader.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 1 September 2005
page 12

Scottish news

Council gives in on equal pay dispute

Aberdeen Council has avoided crippling industrial action by
doing a U-turn and conceding to union demands over the introduction
of an equal pay agreement which proposed salary cuts of up to
£16,000. 

Aberdeen councillors agreed to back down following
recommendations from officials which will avert action.

Neither side was prepared to release any details of the deal,
which is expected to be signed by the unions this morning.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 1 September

Rise in drug deaths as cocaine use
increases

The number of drugs-related deaths in Scotland rose last year,
with cocaine responsible for the sharpest increase in fatal
overdoses.

According to the registrar general for Scotland, 356 people died
from overdoses.

Most were overdoses by drug users, while 32 were suicides and 32
were registered as accidental poisoning.

Four out of every five were men, and almost a quarter were under
25.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 1 September

Police demand extra cash to monitor sex
criminals

Police are demanding “significant” extra funds to tackle the
growing burden of monitoring sex offenders in the community.

Bob Ovens, of the Association of Chief Police Officers in
Scotland (ACPOS), warned other areas of policing would suffer if
new money was not found to provide more staff trained in tracking
and assessing the risk posed by paedophiles and other sex
offenders.

He also said people accused of a sexual crime might have to be
placed on the sex offenders’ register even before they appear in
court, following the circumstances surrounding the murder of Rory
Blackhall.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 1 September

Sheriff hits out at system after having to grant bail to
paedophile

A sheriff made a thinly veiled reference to criticisms of the
Rory Blackhall murder case yesterday, as he voiced his frustration
at having to grant bail to a convicted sex offender.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis called on the justice system to “get our
act together” after hearing that social workers had failed to
finish a report on Steven Grant, despite having had more than month
to complete the task.

Grant was found guilty in May of breaching a probation order
imposed for sex crimes in 2003.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 1 September

Adoption for star Clare

Gregory’s Girl star and former Altered Images singer Clare
Grogan and her husband are hoping to adopt a child.

Clare and record producer Stephen Lironi have been trying to
start a family for years. Friends say the couple are thrilled to be
going through the adoption process.

Source:- Daily Record Thursday 1 September

Welsh news

Grandmother admits stealing from baby fund

A grandmother has admitted stealing from a fund she set up to
help a special baby care unit.

Angela Lesley Whitehead, 45, created the Little Sunbeams appeal
for the unit at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth after her
granddaughter was born prematurely at the facility in 2003.

Whitehead disputes the amount she stole which is alleged to be
£14, 368.47.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 1 September

Boozing link to battered wives

Alcohol has been labelled as the cause of a dramatic increase in
domestic violence in Swansea where figures have increased by 15 per
cent in two years.

New figures from the South Wales Criminal Justice Board show
that there were over 800 incidents in April, May and June
alone.

Around half of the attacks have been linked with drinking.

Source:- thisissouthwales Thursday 1 September